Let Time Take its Course
by CrimsonxXxRabbit
Summary: Keith hates losing, believes that it makes him useless to those around him and strips away any self-confidence he gained beforehand. When confronted about his attitude after returning to the Castle of Lions from the BoA base, and after revealing something he learned while at the base, he starts breaking down and Lance may be the only one that can help put him back together again.
1. Chapter 1

Keith was quiet as he, Kolivan, and Shiro exited his red lion in the hangar. Quiet even as they walked to the bridge to discuss future plans they all needed to make to take down Zarkon once and for all. None of that was on Keith's mind, though. All he could think about was how he was so easily defeated in one of the few things he excelled at; combat.

The way they threw him around like he weighed nothing. The way they handled their weapons with such mastery that it not only awed him but pissed him of to a high degree. Just the thought of all this and more made his body quake with an anger he hadn't felt in so long that he didn't notice how he was grinding his teeth to nearly dust, the far-off look in his eyes that glared daggers at nothing, or how his hands dug into his crossed arms that he nearly tore through the flight suit.

Anger seethed through every pore of his body that he didn't realize anybody was talking to him until Shiro stepped into his line of sight and clapped his hands together. The ringing jostling him from his thoughts and to the present conversation. It took a split second that everyone's eyes were on him and they were waiting for a response to a question he didn't even hear.

"I… I'm sorry." He said quickly, adjusting his stance and putting weight on his left hip since his entire right side hurt from his shoulder down. He tried his best to hide it but knew that Shiro himself seemed to think Keith's slightly odd behavior was because of the pain. "What were we talking about?"

"Shiro said you had something to share with us." Pidge offered as they adjusted their glasses a little. Her all-seeing gaze taking notice in how Keith held himself.

"Oh…" Keith muttered, his gaze falling to the floor as his face paled. He had hoped to avoid telling anybody about what he learned at the base before returning, he thought Shiro understood the heaviness of the situation that keeping it a secret would have been best… but he seems to have misunderstood how Shiro felt about it.

With a bite to his bottom lip before lifting his eyes to look at Shiro, who still stood before him with a soft, encouraging smile, he took a deep breath and got it over with.

"I'm part Galra. We found out after the Trial or Knowledge or Death because I was given by my father one of their Marmora Blades and didn't know what it meant until now." And he left the bridge, the last thing he saw being the darkened look on Allura's face. How it showed the betrayal in the tears that threatened to fall from her gemstone-like eyes before he pulled his gaze from her and ran off down the corridor, the door sliding shut as no one dared to follow him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hey guys! I'm here with the second chapter and I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

The second the doors shut, Allura let loose every word she wanted to yell towards Keith.

"How could he!" She barked before turning towards Shiro for answers. "What does he mean 'half Galra', Shiro?" She added before whipping her head towards the said paladin. Rage seeping through every pore on her body.

"Well…" Shiro sighed, almost sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck, and explained everything that happened on the base after they arrived. It was almost a go with the alliance, but when it was learned that Keith came to them with a weapon after agreeing to go in weaponless. It wouldn't have been as bad as what he witnessed, but had Keith refused to give up how he got the blade. That, in turn brought forth the Trials where Keith either learned what he wanted or died trying. In the end, the blade formed when Keith decided to return it to the Blade and that was how they all learned he was half Galra. "I'm just as shocked as you guys are though. And you should have—"

"He betrayed us all, then." Allura spat, her anger taking over any rational thought she had.

"What the fuck Allura?" Pidge shrieked while Hunk spat out, "That's not right!"

"Hey! That's going too far!" Shiro spat back as he pointed a finger at Allura. "I know for a fact that Keith had no idea about his heritage. Hell, he never knew his own mother because she left him before he could have any decent memories of her! He only had that knife because it was in his father's will that he receives it upon his death with no explanation as to how or where it came from."

"Shiro's right, Allura, blaming Keith for something he had no control over is a low blow." Lance said with backup from both Pidge and Hunk.

"Keith may be a loner and not open up to anybody unless he did so on his terms, but he would never betray anyone and you know that!" Pidge hissed, disappearing from the bridge to go to the Green Lion's hangar before they blew a gasket.

"And I may not know Keith like I Shiro but blaming someone for their heritage is just… bad. Wait, no, not bad, just plain wrong on so many levels." Hunk said. "I mean, wars were created on our planet because no one liked the other's heritage. Heck, that's still happening now!"

"How can you guys take—" Allura started before Lance spoke.

"Don't you dare go further with that statement, because if you do, you'll say something you'll regret for the rest of life." And with that Lance turned to leave the bridge. "I'm going to go see if Keith's alright."

Once the doors slid shut, Shiro turned back to Allura with a fire in his eyes that she had never seen before.

"Keith is my adopted brother and I know him more than anybody on this damn ship, Princess." He said before taking a deep breath to calm himself down for his next statement, "but, I know you've lost everything to the Galra, your home, your family, your entire people… After Keith's dad died in a fire, nobody wanted him but my family because we saw something in him that could make him happy. The greatness he never knew he had that could pull him out of the depression and self-hatred he had for himself. Understand? We are the only family he has and if you don't like it, then that's your problem to sort out."

Then Shiro turned to Kolivan and said, "I'm sorry for what you've witnessed… but we really should get on with the meeting. I'll inform Pidge, Lance, and Keith of our plans later."

Kolivan looked Shiro with a quick gaze. Knew that there would be hardships the second he stepped onto the Castle as well as Keith revealing his lineage, but he didn't know it was going to be this bad.

"You're right, but before we actually put these plans into action, everyone aboard this Castle ship needs to get along, learn to set aside their differences, and learn to care for one another. If anger and bitterness reside in anyone's hearts over something that another cannot control, it will throw us all off balance and destroy everything we've all come to accomplish." Kolivan lectured. "Now, let's begin."


End file.
